Mid-West Campaign
Session One

Monday, 6 November 2000 (continued)

In Pecos Jane asks Todd what Vitrano's team were doing in Odessa when Jane stumbled across them. Todd said that they had a tip off that Apache Joe would be in the area. Todd doesn't know who gave Vitrano the tip off, or even if it is the same person who tipped Vitrano off to the body in Colorado City. Todd believes that the only reason Vitrano and Lavin are still on Case S73 is because of their source. It is possible that the head of the serial crimes unit, Kurt Tice, also knows the identity of the source.

Jane wonders if the previous agent in charge of S73 (Crondheim) had a source. Crondheim was on the case for five years as well. Crondheim has recently retired and now lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. Jane determines to contact him at some point.

Jane asks Todd about the driver of the car she chased in Australia - the person she was convinced was Apache Joe. It turns out the driver was actually a Ukrainian general, Mikhail Kariskoff who had been the target of several assassination attempts in the past. Jane begins to see the international incident she precipitated and for the first time begins to doubt that she ever saw Apache Joe in Australia.

The spirit of Nathan Harlow arrives in an empty office in Wichita. He fails to salvage his blood-filled computer, and to hack into the files of the other cold case units. He decides to email the other two evidence response teams and ask for their help in tracking down the Joker. He then leaves.

Elise Steiger arrives back at Wichita HQ. Artemis has gone to visit his mother in Boston and follow up on the Joker leads. Elise settles down to research more about Apache Joe. It occurs to her that if one body has not been found, then there might be others as well. He begins to research reports of missing persons or suspicious deaths in Texas that fit the profile of Joe's victims in a town that used to have a Texas Ranger station and has three of the four transport links. Elise strikes gold.

On 30 June 1992, Jeanette Simpson was found dead in the back of a white pick-up truck. The truck was parked on a blind corner of a road, next to a river and by a railway line on the outskirts of Temple, Texas. The truck was not Simpson's, but was an unregistered vehicle bought for cash. There was a sandstorm. The driver of an articulated lorry didn't see the van until it was too late and slammed it into the river. Simpson's body was only discovered because it was thrown clear. It was too badly mangled to tell if it had been scalped. The crash took place at 00:05. If this is an Apache Joe killing, it means Simpson was killed on 29 June.

Importantly, this killing was before the attack on Jane. It has already been established that Apache Joe is repeating all the locations before his attack on Jane, but he has not yet repeated Temple. Could Temple be the location of the next murder on 4 January 2001.

Elise conjectures that Apache Joe has an unusually complete understanding of the Texas Rangers. Information about the location of old Texas Ranger stations is not easy to come by. There is a Texas Ranger museum on an army base at Fort Worth in Texas. Is Apache Joe a Ranger, or an ex-Ranger?

Elise continues working. Are there any more missing victims? One more victim is discovered: Eve Adams. She was murdered on 31 December 1991 in Roundrock, Texas. However, she fell off a cliff and her injuries were so severe that no-one noticed whether she had been scalped. Eve would have been Apache Joe's first victim, so no-one would probably have looked.

Obviously, this also pre-dates the attack on Jane - so now there are two possible locations of the next victim: Roundrock or Temple. Elise tries to analyse this information still further, but cannot get the computer to cooperate. She shoots her monitor with a very large gun.

In order to be seen to be doing real work as well, Elise begins to investigate Case BRTS002 (arson involving a federal vehicle). However, when she tries to find more information the case is flagged up as classified. The sports utility vehicle in question is connected with a counter-terrorism investigation in Quantico. She is given a code number (86767-98-9764-A) and discovers that this matter has to be personally brought to the attention of Eisenstein.

Meanwhile, Nathan Harlow decides to help with the Apache Joe investigation. Black told Harlow he wanted Vitrano and Lavin to realise the Texas Ranger connection. Harlow goes to an Internet café and tries to plant this information in Vitrano's computer. He is tumbled by security. Amazingly soon afterwards two men in black arrive and shoot Harlow with weapons that seem to be right out of Ghostbusters. Harlow feels as though he is being pulled apart. Fortunately their weapons malfunction and Harlow escapes.

Blackthorne is released from hospital, but it is probably that his ulcer will continue to be a problem over the coming weeks. His condition is exacerbated by stress.

Tuesday, 7 November 2000

Jane finishes clearing out Kirsty's things and returns to Dick and Tina. Kirsty's funeral will be this coming Friday at dusk. Kirsty's brother Richard is working in the desert out near Oman and cannot be contacted. Dick invites Jane for Christmas and she accepts. Jane promises to return for the funeral, but says she needs to go back to Wichita. In private, Jane tells Dick that she is following up some things for the Apache Joe case.

Jane arrives back in Wichita around midday. Harlow has sent a message to the team telling them he was attacked by people with ray guns. Blackthorne is in denial. The agents bring Jane up to speed on their work with Apache Joe. She is very impressed with Elise's work. Blackthorne is less impressed with Elise's shooting of the computer and reprimands her. He seems to have developed a twitch.

Looking at the names of Apache Joe's victims something clicks in Blackthorne's mind. There is an historical connection. Blackthorne says that there was a fort at Eagle Pass in Texas called Fort Routt (after General Liam Routt). During the Texas-Mexico war (1835-36) the Indians trapped the Texans in Fort Routt, allowing the Mexicans to move in and wipe them out. The Indians then killed all the surviving Mexicans. There is a monument to the dead at Eagle Pass, a photo of which is in the casefile. Blackthorne is convinced that all the surnames of the victims appear on that monument. However, there are hundreds of surnames on the monument and photo only shows one face. It would be impossible to work out a pattern without looking at it.

Jane analyses some of the remaining date. If all the death are in places that have three of the main transport links, and are the location of an old Texas Ranger station then how many places has Joe left to hit? The answer is five. Val Verda and Roundrock are the places predicted by Agent Hudson. The other locations on the list are the two places Elise predicted (Temple and Round Rock) and Eagle Pass itself.

The agents now for sure that Apache Joe will strike in Round Rock, Temple or Eagle Pass on 4 January 2001, that he will attack a women aged between 16 and 25 who comes from a well educated background and has not yet had any children. The victim will not be a black or native American, and the surname of the victim will appear on this monument in Eagle Pass (the victims might be direct descendents, but they don't know for sure as yet). Jane is very excited.

Elise volunteers to go to Eagle Pass until it is realised that she exactly fits the profile of Apache Joe's victims. She won't be going anywhere in Texas alone. Blackthorne says he will go with her. The records at HQ provide a partial list of the names on the monument. It seems that Apache Joe has attacked those who share the same surname as the officers, and is now working down the rank and file. The agents ask Chris Walcott for a copy of Elise's family tree as well - just to be on the safe side.

Blackthorne says that they will continue investigating Apache Joe for a few days but on Monday 13 November they have to return to their regular case load. Before that he and Elise must chase up case BRTS002 with Eisenstein because Elise's interest in the case would have been flagged.

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